Talk about how the company Amazon is changing the future of freight transportation kicked off the final day of the FTR Transportation Conference in Indianapolis on Wednesday with a panel that included two truck fleet representatives.

How fleets think about equipment, electronic logging devices and even the future of autonomous vehicles were in the spotlight Wednesday afternoon at the annual FTR Transportation Conference in Indianapolis, as three trucking fleet people spoke on a panel about the challenges they face in today’s uncertain trucking environment.

Speaking about the impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma at the FTR Transportation Conference, analysts estimated that the economic impact on the region could cost GDP 0.5% in the third quarter of 2017.

"Sometimes growing stronger is also the next thing that leads to the next recession." Dr. Larry Davidson, professor emeritus of business economics and public policy at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, talked about "secular stagnation" at the FTR Transportation Conference.

The final trailer order numbers for the month of July have been released by transportation industry analysts FTR and ACT Research, showing a steep decline from the previous month, but an increase overall compared to last year.

FTR and Truckstop.com have announced that Noël Perry, a partner at FTR, will lead the economic analysis for Truckstop.com, assuming the role of chief economist for the load board and technology company.

FTR released a new report detailing the economics of using twin 33-foot trailers, showing that only in specific cases would the extra capacity lead to a benefit. However, for those fleets, the increase would be worth it.

FTR’s Trucking Conditions Index for February took a positive step, as the company's analysts expect the index to approach a double digit positive reading by the end of the year due to the combination of freight growth and still-planned regulatory headwinds in 2017.